Apart From Time
by LarielRomeniel
Summary: Speculation on what comes after S2x17. When the Waverider crash lands in an alternate Los Angeles 2017, dinosaurs aren't the only surprise. Character listings will be updated as the story progresses, but look at my previous works and you likely know where this is going!
1. Chapter 1

As soon as I saw the T. rexes in that closing shot, my head went to Dinotopia. Fair warning: I am only familiar with the 2002 TV miniseries (starring Wentworth Miller), and I'm cherry-picking things I want from that and possibly from other fandoms in future chapters.

Many thanks to Jael for looking this over and telling me I wasn't completely nuts.

* * *

"Guys? I think we broke time."

There was a _whump_ somewhere in the ship. All the lights on the bridge went dark, and the ship's normal background hum disappeared.

"I don't think that's all that got broken," Jax said uneasily.

Another _whump_ , closer this time.

"Gideon? What the hell's going on?" Mick demanded.

No answer from the AI. Just another _whump_. Then a white mist began pouring into the bridge.

"Coolant leak!" Jax exclaimed. "Everybody, get out! Move, move, _move_!"

White mist was also filling the passageway, and Gideon wasn't responding to their calls. "Get to the hatch!" Sara shouted. "We've got to get off the ship!"

"If we leave the ship the dinosaurs might kill us!" Nate said.

"If we don't leave, the coolant definitely _will_ kill us!" Jax countered. "Ray, where the hell are you going?"

The inventor had turned toward the crew quarters. "I need my suit…" he said, stopping when he saw white clouds billowing up from that direction.

"Forget it!" Sara ordered. She coughed. "Let's go!"

Hands and sleeves served as gas masks as they ran to the main hatch, coolant vapors trailing them as if in pursuit. With one eye on the approaching cloud, Sara said, "Who's armed?"

"My gun's back in my room," Mick said.

"All I've got is my Swiss Army knife," Ray offered.

She sighed. She was carrying a few knives, as usual, but those little throwing knives wouldn't be much good against a _T. rex_ , let alone more than one of them. "All right. Firestorm goes first. Drive off those _T. rexes_ and look for a place we can defend. Nate and Amaya, you'll have to cover the three of us without powers." After getting nods from the team, she said, "On three… one, two _, three_!"

She hit the hatch control…

And nothing happened.

"Everything must be offline!" Stein said.

"Is there a way to open this manually?" Amaya asked, coughing as wisps of coolant fumes started reaching them.

Mick shouldered Nate and Ray out of his way. "I got this," he said. "Haircut, gimme your knife."

Ray handed the tool over, and Mick used it to pull a plate off the wall, exposing a latch. He yanked at it, and the hatch fell open. The approaching mist was pushed back by the fresh air coming in... but now they were exposed.

Stein and Jax took a half step onto the ramp and slapped their hands together, merging into Firestorm and taking off. Nate steeled up.

"I don't see any big bad dinos over here," he said as he and Amaya stepped out cautiously. She coughed a little before laying a hand on her amulet. There was a blue glow and the faint sound of a tyrannosaurus roaring as the spirit of the dinosaur settled over her.

Nate turned to wave the others out of the hatchway…

And gasped in surprise at the velociraptor standing over the opening.

"Watch it, guys!" he warned as the beast jumped down onto the ramp with a snarl, landing right in front of him. He threw up an arm as it lunged at him. The raptor's teeth closed over his metal shielding. With another snarl and a shake of its head, it threw Nate away from the Waverider, slamming him into a piece of the concrete that had been churned up by the crash. His steel skin vanished, and he slumped to the ground.

"Nate!" With a roar, Amaya moved between Nate and the raptor, staring it down.

"Where's Fireboy when you need him?" Mick shouted.

Sara glanced up at the sky. "He's got his own problems."

And it was "problems," plural. A pair of pteranodons were swooping around Firestorm, blocking his path. One of them got close enough to clip him, and he tumbled down, splitting back into Stein and Jax as he hit the ground. Stein rolled into a defensive crouch, but Jax…

Jax was too still.

"We're on our own, Mick," Sara said, drawing a knife as the raptor backed away from Amaya.

"Haircut, you're the expert," Mick said as the raptor turned toward them. "What do we do?"

"I... don't know," Ray answered. "There weren't any velociraptors around where Rip time-scattered me."

"Great," Mick grunted. "Sara, I've got an idea. You two get ready to run."

"Mick, what's the plan?" Sara asked, her muscles tensing.

He let out a grim chuckle. "Didja see 'Jurassic World?' Gonna show this overgrown lizard who's boss."

With that, he drew himself to his full height, puffed out his chest and walked slowly forward, keeping his eyes locked with the raptor. Sara and Ray exchanged a wide-eyed look, then started following him slowly.

The raptor made a low clicking sound in its throat. Mick bared his teeth and, with a low growl of his own, raised his fisted hands…

And then was swept off his feet and into the air by a brown blur. _Pteranodon?_ Sara thought briefly before she and Ray were also caught up. Within seconds, they were far above the ground, dangling from reptilian claws.

"Hang on!" a male voice shouted above her.

Her eyes widened as she realized these creatures had _people_ clinging to their leathery brown backs.

Riders? Yes. Riders, clad in red suits… uniforms? Yes, uniforms, she decided, with some kind of leather helmets that covered half their faces. Each rider lay flat against his beast's spine, reducing wind resistance. Sara looked up at the flier that was carrying her, but could only see a black neck strap against a white hide, unique among this…

Flock? What did you call a bunch of flying dinosaurs?

Whatever you called them, a quick head count showed her the whole team had been picked up. She saw Nate startle awake in the grip of one flier, but it looked like Jax was still unconscious.

They were headed northwest, away from the site where the Waverider had crashed. She glanced to her left and could see the Pacific twinkling in the distance. To her right, mountain ranges rose. Ahead, the seemingly empty city gave way to orderly fields and stands of oak trees nestled against more hills.

The creature had grabbed Sara just under her arms, and she was starting to feel the strain when they began descending toward a dirt road winding up a grassy hill. The team was set down with varying degrees of gentleness; the flier carrying Jax flapped and hovered for a moment as it laid him on the grass, while Mick was dropped from a few feet up. He cursed and rolled to his feet as their rescuers continued north in a V formation.

Stein ran to Jax's side. "How is he?" Sara called.

"Breathing," Stein answered. "But he's not waking up."

Not all of the fliers were gone. The white one that had carried Sara remained, circling around them once before it backwinged to a landing at the top of the hill.

It wasn't just the animal that was unique. Its rider was clad in black rather than red. Tall and lean, the man slipped to the ground and clapped his mount's neck before turning to the Legends, striding angrily toward them as he unstrapped his helmet.

"What the _hell_ were you thinking?" the rider snapped at them.

Sara's mouth dropped open at the sound of his voice. She shot a glance at Mick, who looked as stunned as she felt.

The rider pulled his helmet off and stopped in front of Mick, glaring furiously.

"What kind of _idiot_ goes nose to nose with a raptor?" Leonard Snart demanded.


	2. Chapter 2

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Apologies for the long, long delay in this second chapter. And thanks to Jael for looking this over!

* * *

"I must have hit my head harder than I realized," Nate muttered, staring at the man in black before them. Amaya shifted slightly into a defensive stance. Not surprising, since the only version of Leonard Snart she and Nate knew was an enemy.

But Leonard's angry glare was directed at Mick. "Even a two-year-old knows better than to play domination games with raptors!"

He stared at Mick for another moment, his brow furrowing strangely. Then he turned his head, seeming to listen to something none of them could hear. He whirled toward Stein and Jax. "You have wounded?"

"Jefferson isn't waking up," Stein said, still kneeling beside his partner.

A few quick strides and Leonard was kneeling on Jax's other side, wearing an expression of concern Sara had rarely seen on her… on _their_ Leonard. Dropping his helmet, he took Jax's wrist to check his pulse. He closed his eyes in concentration for a moment, then opened them again and gently set Jax's hand back down on his chest.

"We can get him to a healer in Waterfall City, " he told Stein. Then he looked up at the rest of the team. "You people need to stand back."

The pteranodon _cawed_ before taking a low leap to glide down from the hilltop. Sara thought she caught a familiar smirk crossing Leonard's face as the Legends tried to scramble out of the way. One wingtip passed close enough to ruffle Ray's hair before the animal landed with its back toward them. It furled its wings and crouched, its finger claws splayed out on the grass for balance and its spine almost parallel to the ground.

"Help me get him up and strapped onto the saddle," Leonard said, motioning for the team to help lift Jax.

"You're going to… fly him there?" Stein asked uncertainly. "Is it... is it safe?"

Leonard smiled slightly as he stepped easily onto the beast's rear leg and walked up its back, motioning for them to follow. "Freefall's been my partner for thirty years and hasn't dropped me yet."

Mick's face went blank at that declaration.

The saddle was more like a black mat covering the pteranodon's back, wide enough to carry two people. They laid Jax down on one side. Leonard carefully fastened some safety straps across Jax's chest and legs, then turned back to look at the team. His gaze swept quickly over Nate and Amaya, then hesitated a little on Stein and Ray before lingering on Mick and Sara. His brow furrowed again.

Then he shook his head and held his hand out for his helmet. When Stein handed it up to him, Leonard said, "He'll be in good hands."

"Thank you," Stein said quietly. "Jefferson is my partner, and without him…"

That _listening_ expression crossed Leonard's face again, and he nodded. "I know you have questions. The bus to Waterfall City will be here soon. Just tell them you're from Outside, and that Squadron Leader Snart told you to go to the Senate chambers. You'll get your answers there."

He put the helmet on and turned to lay next to Jax, one hand holding the younger man's head steady. "I'll see you in Waterfall City!" he called out as the pteranodon shifted and launched itself into the sky, heading north. It quickly disappeared behind some distant hills.

"Yeah, definitely hit my head harder than I thought," Nate said, staring after them. "Squadron leader?"

Amaya looked over at Mick, who was staring at the ground, stone-faced. "And he said that, that..."

"Pteranodon," Ray supplied helpfully.

"…has been his _partner_ for the past thirty years," Amaya finished. "That wasn't any Leonard Snart any of us have known, as a friend or foe."

"He didn't know us, either," Nate said.

Ray frowned. "I'm not so sure of that. He gave us sort of a funny look, don't you think?"

"Everybody gives you funny looks, Haircut," Mick grunted. "Don't mean nothin'."

"Mick…" Sara sighed. Leonard _had_ looked at them oddly, she had to admit, and it was better than the cold, hate-filled stares he'd leveled at them when he was with the Legion, but…

Stein interrupted her train of thought. "None of this makes any sense."

Sara shrugged helplessly. "Well, if we broke time…"

He shook his head and began to pace. "Even if we have broken time, _think_ about what we have seen already."

He started ticking things off with his fingers. "Feral dinosaurs and tame pterosaurs… in a 2017 Los Angeles… with a mix of completely anachronistic architecture… and Mr. Snart as well?" He stopped and spread his hands with a slight huff. "This… this is like a temporal chop suey."

Nate nodded. "The professor's right. All of history is just one thing leading to another. If one thing doesn't happen, the next can't."

"Time Travel 101," Ray said with a nod.

Nate went on, "The continued existence of the dinosaurs alone should have prevented the evolution of human society beyond the status of… of sheep or cattle."

"You mean food," Mick interjected.

Nate gave him a semi-shrug of consent. "Putting it bluntly, yes."

Mick grunted. "Well, if anyone could think of a way to keep from becoming dino chow, it would be Snart."

Sara pursed her lips in thought for a moment. "Snart said we'd get answers in Waterfall City, wherever that is."

"And it's where he took Jefferson," Stein added.

"So I guess we just have to wait for the bus like he told us," Sara finished. She dropped down to sit cross-legged on the grass. "May as well get comfortable."

Ray followed her example, while Stein continued pacing, his worry for his partner evident on his face. After a moment, Mick also settled on the grass. "Could sure use a mai tai right now. Or a beer," he said, lying back and putting his arms behind his head before closing his eyes.

Amaya wrinkled her brow and turned toward the hillside. Nate drew closer to her.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

She put a hand up to quiet him. "Listen."

Stein stopped pacing, and Mick opened one eye. "I don't hear nothin'," Mick said after a moment.

" _Anything_ ," Stein corrected.

Irritated, Sara shushed them. Then the ground shuddered. "Earthquake?" she asked, scrambling back to her feet. Mick and Ray followed suit as the ground shook again.

"I don't think so," Amaya replied, starting up the hillside. Nate followed her.

Now they could all hear a series of thumping noises, coming from the other side of the hill, in time with the shaking. Definitely _not_ an earthquake.

"Uh, guys, you sure you want to go that way?" Ray called as Amaya and Nate reached the top.

The couple stood there for a moment. Then Amaya turned back toward them with a big smile. "Our ride is here!"

"You're not gonna believe it!" Nate added with a laugh.

Sara's eyes widened and her jaw dropped as a… _head_ … appeared at the top of the hill, followed by a long, sinuous neck and a massive body, all covered with shining plates of armor and carried by four powerful legs. The ground shook with every step of the creature's massive feet as it crested the hill and made its way down, halting in front of them.

"Is… is that a…" Stein stammered in disbelief.

"Brachiosaurus!" Ray exclaimed, his own eyes wide and practically glowing with delight. "My favorite herbivorous dinosaur!"

"So that's the bus?" Mick asked, a rare expression of surprise on his face.

Apparently it was. The dinosaur had a huge carrier on its back. A man poked his head out of it, looking down at them curiously. "Going to Waterfall City?" he called down.

"Yeah," Sara called back. "Uh, Squadron Leader Snart told us to go to the Senate chambers."

"He said to tell you we're from Outside," Nate added.

"Oh, really? Been a long time since anyone's come in from Outside!" A rope ladder rolled down from the carrier to the ground. "Welcome aboard!"

* * *

The kid was still unconscious when Freefall glided out of the mist of the Great Falls, landing on the roof of the Healer Hall. A team was already waiting there for them with a stretcher.

So was the chief deputy to the Speaker of the Senate, wearing a grim expression as he announced, "The skybax riders told the Senate what happened. Druce is not happy with either of you right now."

Freefall _whuffed_ at that, and his mental voice sounded amused rather than troubled. _::Knew that was coming.::_

Leonard patted his partner's neck before dismounting to make way for the healers, ignoring the frowning man for now. "Head injury," he told the lead healer while Freefall crouched to let the stretcher team up. "Kid's name is Jefferson."

The stenonychosaurus nodded and hissed to the two human healer trainees who were carefully unstrapping Jefferson from the saddle.

"Snart! Did you hear what I said? Druce…"

"Oh, I heard you, Raymond," Leonard answered airily. "I just don't care."

 _::Go easy, now. He's just the messenger,::_ Freefall soothed _::He's still your friend.::_

Ronnie Raymond let out a sigh of frustration. "Look, Leonard, I get it. I do. You don't trust that the Cahuenga Nest will keep to the treaty. But Druce is worried that you're just as likely as they are to break it. Having your squadron patrol the Empty City's north border is one thing, but crossing it and going into the interior—"

Sharply, Leonard replied, "The interior's supposed to be off-limits to _them_ , too, _Ronald_ , but there they were! At least half a dozen tyrannosaurs and raptors, all hoping for a free lunch. Maybe more; I wasn't keeping score."

He felt a bit of satisfaction in seeing Ronnie's eyes go wide in surprise before he went on, "If we hadn't gone in when we did, this kid and his friends—"

"Friends?" Ronnie interrupted. "There were others?"

Leonard nodded as he watched the healers trot off with their patient. "Two women, four men," he said, moving to unhook the saddle strap around Freefall's neck. "They're Outsiders, Ronnie. They had some kind of a flying ship that dropped out of the sky."

Ronnie blinked. "Like the…"

"Yeah, like that," Leonard replied, pulling the saddle off and dropping back to the rooftop while Freefall straightened up from his crouch and shook out his wings a little before turning to settle on all fours.

"But they weren't…" Ronnie made a whirling motion next to his ear.

Leonard smirked. "Well, one of them had the bright idea of challenging a velociraptor. But otherwise…"

He paused, recalling the strange sense of familiarity he'd felt at seeing these strangers. Then he shrugged it off. "Otherwise they seemed sane. Not like the other one. Any change there?"

Ronnie shook his head. "No. Still in isolation. So what about these others? Where are they now?"

"The bus was only a few minutes away from where we left them. I told them to take it here and then ask for the Senate chambers."

Ronnie glanced over at the TimeKeeper Helix on the roof of the Senate building. "Well, if Burly stays on schedule they'll be here within the hour. That'll give Druce time to digest your report first."

Leonard grunted in resigned irritation, then smiled a little when Freefall nudged his shoulder gently. _::Duty calls. And the lake trout are calling me.::_ A small rumble punctuated his words.

Leonard chuckled. "You've earned it, partner. Meet me at the Senate chambers afterwards, all right?"

 _::I will.::_

Leonard stepped back, Ronnie following his example as Freefall gathered himself to take off, drawing his wings back and tensing his legs before pushing off and flapping strongly. As he disappeared back into the mist, he sent back one thought.

 _::Before you see Druce, you should tell Ronnie what's troubling you about these Outsiders.::_

Leonard shook his head with another chuckle. Of course Freefall had caught that.

"He was getting in the last word again?" Ronnie asked with a smile. "What is it this time?"

Leonard slung the saddle over his shoulder. "These Outsiders… there's something strange about them."

"To hear Druce tell it, Outsiders are always strange. They're from Outside, after all." Ronnie dropped his voice in imitation of the Speaker. "They bring strange ideas with them."

"Yeah, like how to defend ourselves from the Cahuenga Nest," Leonard replied bitterly.

Ronnie held his hands up. "I'm not saying I agree with him! You know I liked those pilots who trained you." He jerked his head toward the door into the Hall, a tacit reminder that they had somewhere to be. "So what's so strange about this bunch?" he asked as they started walking.

"Not sure how to explain it," Leonard said with a shrug. "It's going to sound weird."

Ronnie stopped and laughed at that. "Weird? Leonard, while the rest of your cadet class matched with skybaxes like normal, you went and _bonded_ with a pteranodon. An albino one at that! I'm used to 'weird' with you."

"All right, all right," Leonard conceded. But he still paused for a moment before saying, "I'm not sure how to explain it, but… they felt… familiar."

"Familiar as in they reminded you of someone? Maybe those pilots?"

Leonard considered that, then said, "No. Familiar as in… I've seen them before." He shook his head. "Maybe… I don't know. Maybe in dreams."

Ronnie looked thoughtful. "Hmmm. Well, you'll have plenty of time to figure it out once they get here, my friend. Once they're here, they're not going anywhere."


	3. Chapter 3

AUTHOR'S NOTE: My apologies once again for the long break between chapters. Real life has been just a bit in the way.

* * *

The brachiosaurus was named Burly. Sara thought that was appropriate for a dinosaur standing five stories tall and weighing something like 80 tons, according to Ray, who was so excited Sara was worried he might… _pop_ something.

And that weight was even before throwing in the open-topped passenger gondola with its cargo of half a dozen Legends and some locals, including a small boy who stared at Sara's team curiously until his mother nudged him with a low warning that it wasn't polite to stare.

The "driver" stood at the front of the gondola. He was a little man who introduced himself as "the Bean." Sara thought that name was appropriate too; she actually stood taller than he did. Not someone anybody would expect to be able to control such a huge beast, but when she voiced that thought, the Bean was quick to correct her.

"Humans don't _control_ dinosaurs. We work _with_ them," he explained as Burly plodded down the road. "They share their strength, and in return we do things for them that they can't do for themselves. For example, Burly here got a nasty splinter on the bottom of his foot once, and I pulled it out for him. If he didn't have humans about to do stuff like that, he'd probably have died of infection."

"How'd you manage to find a little splinter in a foot that size?" Amaya asked.

"That 'little splinter' was about the size of your arm!" the Bean replied with a laugh. "But I got right under there and yanked it out."

"Under… his foot?" Nate asked. When the Bean nodded, he asked, "Isn't that dangerous? He could have flattened you."

A deep rumble sounded in the brachiosaurus' throat, followed by a sort of lowing. The Bean smiled. "Burly says he'd never. I'm the only one who can scratch all his itches."

Burly rumbled one more time, drawing a laugh from the little boy. "He says he doesn't like squishy things between his toes, either!"

Stein looked at him in surprise. "He _says_? He… talked? And you… understood him?"

"Our children learn Saurian before they learn to read," the boy's mother replied. She looked at her son sternly. "And they're also taught not to interrupt grownup conversations. Aren't you, David?"

"But Mumma! They _met_ Squadron Leader Snart! And Freefall!" David protested, saying the names with a reverence that boys in Sara's world would reserve for sports icons.

Or superheroes.

David's eyes were shining with excitement as he went on, "They're the strongest and the bravest fliers in the Skybax Corps!"

Sara felt a little pang at those words, an echo of something she'd told Nate months ago. Not that she'd ever told him what she meant. At the time it was less painful to have him assume she was talking about Rip. And after their experience with the Legion, she doubted he'd ever believe she'd really been talking about Leonard.

She was jarred from her musing by a whistling sound from David, who was waving his arms around as if to illustrate flying. "…and then they swooped in fast as lightning and sent those carnivores running for their lives!"

"They sound very daring," Amaya said with a slight smile for the child's excitement.

"They're agitators," another passenger grumbled with a scowl. "Not willing to just get along with the Cahuengas."

"He's got good reason for that!" David's mother countered hotly. "You have no idea what we've been dealing with out in the settlements!"

The man's scowl grew deeper. "They're troublemakers!"

David's father now joined the debate. "They are _heroes_!"

Mick huffed sourly at that, shifting in his back-row seat to stare stonily at the mountains in the distance while the locals argued. Sara caught Ray's eye and motioned for him to let her take his place next to Mick. As they maneuvered around each other, she murmured, "You guys see if you can figure out just what we're riding into, and give me the Reader's Digest version later."

Ray nodded, and she turned her attention to Mick. "You okay there?"

"Why wouldn't I be okay?" Another echo of the past, and just like at the Vanishing Point, he didn't look at her as he said it.

"Mick…" she sighed.

" 'm fine, Sara. Leave it alone."

She frowned, but ignored the warning in his tone. "Don't brush me off, Mick."

Now he turned toward her with a harsh laugh. "Like you brushed _me_ off for months? All of you?"

There was bitterness in his voice and accusation in his eyes, and Sara had to look away under the force of it. "I… I know," she finally said, staring at her hands in her lap. "I knew you were hurting, but… At first I was so focused on getting revenge against Damien Darhk, and then after we lost Rip… I kept telling myself that you were tough, that you were _Mick Rory_ who survived being Chronos."

She sighed. "I told myself you could get through this. And I told myself that you didn't want to talk about feelings."

"Well…" A little bit of concession now. "You weren't wrong there."

"Maybe not, but still… It's no excuse. A captain's supposed to be better than that." She shook her head and looked back up at him. "I told myself everything but the truth. See, I knew that if I talked to you, we'd have to talk about _him_ …. and I… I didn't want to deal with… with my feelings about him."

His lips twisted in a bitter smile. "Yeah, well… look where that got us."

"Exactly. That's why I don't want you brushing me off this time!" she answered sharply.

He glared at her, but she refused to back down, keeping her eyes locked with his. Finally, his expression softened. He let out one of his rumbling sighs and looked back out at the countryside.

"You know the worst part of that whole mess with the Spear and the Legion?" he asked.

"Seeing… _him—_ " She couldn't refer to the Legion's version of Leonard by name—"kill that other version of you on the battlefield?"

Mick snorted softly and shook his head. "Nah. That was nothing new."

Sara's eyes widened, and he continued, "The Time Masters used to create time remnants of us for training, so we could observe our own mistakes and learn from them. I saw myself get killed dozens of times while they trained me to be Chronos."

She really shouldn't have been shocked, knowing the things the Time Masters had done to Rip. To all of them. But still... "Killed? By the other bounty hunters?"

"Usually." The bitter smile returned as he looked back at her. "But sometimes, just to make sure I'd keep hating all of you and stay on mission, they'd put my time remnants up against simulations of the team. I came up against each of you at one point or another. _You_ were especially tough to beat. I think you took out a dozen of my time remnants before I was able to kill you." He shrugged a little. "Your simulation, I mean."

Sara felt sick. "And there were simulations of…?" She still couldn't manage the name.

Mick nodded. "Yeah. After seeing a simulation ice you a dozen different ways, seeing it happen to an aberration isn't any big deal."

Sara nodded in understanding. She'd told Nyssa once that she couldn't stomach the killing any more, but what had really frightened her was how much she'd become desensitized to it. "So if that wasn't the worst, what was?"

Any trace of a smile fell away. "Dumping him in 2014. Before that, my last memory of my best friend was him sitting in a bar, just looking a bit confused after I told him he was a hero to me. Now, thanks to the Spear and the Legion, I have a new last memory… of him looking at me like I was his executioner."

He looked back out of the gondola. "I was hoping the bikini babes and mai tais in Aruba would help me forget that. Even dropping into Dinotown wouldn't have been so bad. A mission could keep me focused, keep me from thinking too hard about anything else."

Diversion instead of dealing with things. Of course. Sara wondered if Mick had learned that from Leonard, or vice versa. "And then Dinotown served up a version of him. One that doesn't know you."

"And one who says his _partner_ is a freakin' flyin' dinosaur!" Mick chuckled now. "Y'know, our Snart would be in geek heaven right now."

Sara chortled disbelievingly. "Really?"

Mick nodded. "Who do you think dragged me to see 'Jurassic World?' He was never as bad as Haircut, but he loved anything to do with dinosaurs. And," he nodded toward the little boy up front, "that kid makes him sound like a rock star. He'd love _that_ too."

There was no disbelief in Sara's laughter now, remembering their Snart's very healthy ego and flair for the dramatic. But it wasn't just conceit and self-centeredness. She knew how hard he'd worked to get out from under his father's thumb, even if the work wasn't of the legal variety, and just _why_ he'd worked so hard.

One of those reasons was, in their original timeline, still in Central City.

The other was sitting next to her, looking thoughtful. "Guess if I had to be replaced, at least it's a cool replacement," Mick said. Then he met her eyes again, and the bitterness was gone. "Yeah, I'm okay, Sara. I won't let you down again."

They both looked up at the clearing of a throat. Stein was standing in the aisle, holding on to the back of a seat to keep his balance against the dinosaur's lumbering gait. "Our… chauffeur… says we'll be at Waterfall City shortly. It's just beyond those hills."

He pointed ahead. They could see a telltale mist rising into the sky, and hear the roar of what had to be massive waterfalls.

Stein went on, "He says we'll pass the Healer Hall first, where they took Jefferson. With your permission, I'd like to leave the group there and check on him."

"Of course," Sara replied. "Do you have any… feeling about how he's doing?"

Stein sighed. "Just a bit of… I guess you'd call it 'background noise.' It's much more muted than when he's just sleeping. It's… it's disconcerting. Jefferson's consciousness is usually such a bright presence in my mind, even when he's trying to hold back."

Mick grunted. "Two years, and I'm still not used to the way you two are in each other's heads."

Stein smiled slightly. "It's not always easy for us, either." He turned to head back to his seat, then paused and faced them again. "Speaking of things that aren't easy… Mr. Rory, I also owe you an apology."

"Were you eavesdropping, Marty?" Sara asked with a teasing smirk.

"Perhaps just a little bit," Stein admitted, giving them a half-shrug. "And I apologize if I overstepped my boundaries."

" 's all right, Professor," Mick replied. "You've talked with me about Snart before. You 'n' Sara… you both get it."

"Yes," Stein said, and his expression was rueful. "And that is why I need to apologize, not for the eavesdropping but for…."

He stopped for a moment, then drew in a deep breath. "The events of the past 24 hours or so have given me ample reason to reflect on my own actions of the past few months… and to regret them."

"Professor…"

Stein held up a hand. "Please, Mr. Rory, let me say this. You trusted me to… to _fix_ you. You trusted me enough to be… vulnerable with me, and don't think that I don't understand what that means for a man with your history."

Normally, Stein would deliver that last sentence disdainfully. Not this time. Instead, he directed the disdain toward himself. "I knew you were suffering, yet all I did was belittle you. And then the others followed my lead."

"Martin…" No more teasing now.

Stein shook his head. "Sara, you are the Captain, but as the oldest, and supposedly wisest, member of the team, I should be… setting an example." He huffed. "I suppose I _did_ set an example, but it was the wrong one. And I kept doing it, even when we got caught in the time storm that brought us here."

He held his hand out to Mick. "For whatever it's worth, I am truly sorry."

Mick stared at the professor for a moment, then briefly clasped the proffered hand in his own. "Well, 's not money or booze…" Stein and Sara both smirked at that, "but I appreciate it, Professor."

He leaned back in his seat and continued, "But don't start thinkin' you need to treat me like some delicate flower. The stuff you've said… the stuff everybody's said… I've said the same sort of things to all of you, too. And I've heard worse in Snart's crews. He just knew when to stop 'em from going too far."

Mick pointed at Sara. "That's part of your job, _Captain_. Got it?"

She smiled and nodded. "Got it, Mick."

Mick grunted in satisfaction. "Good. Now, let's knock off the touchy-feely stuff before Haircut decides to join the party."

As if summoned, Ray called back to the others. "Guys! You have got to see this!"

Burly was rounding another hill, and their destination was now coming into view. The locals had stopped arguing, several of them now gaping instead.

This was worth gaping at.

As expected, waterfalls dominated the landscape. The city was perched on a promontory between two sets of natural falls, one a narrow torrent traversed by a Roman-style arch bridge, the other a much larger cascade creating a cloud of mist where rainbows danced. Even more water flowed from sluices cut into the city's outer wall, the man-made chutes eventually joining the natural falls to form a swiftly running river.

And that was just the beginning.

Like the strange version of Los Angeles they'd crashed into, Waterfall City was a hodgepodge of architectural styles. Their road ran perpendicular to its crenellated walls, and new oddities were revealed as Burly plodded along.

A Mayan-style pyramid caught the eye first, flanked by a flat-topped glass-and-concrete highrise that could have been yanked from Star City and a golden dome reminiscent of St. Peter's. As the road curved toward the bridge they could see a Japanese donjon standing alongside a structure Sara could only describe as a giant glass pineapple. A building with a spiraling stone tower sat in the middle of it all, topped off with a huge clock.

"Waterfall City! The heart of the Tujunga Nest!" the Bean announced cheerfully. "Home to 25,000 humans and saurians, perched at the southern edge of the Great Sweetwater Lake."

The glassy surface of that lake was now coming into view as they drew closer to the bridge. Some of the passengers paid no attention to the Bean's description, leaning back in their seats and looking much like frequent fliers who'd heard the safety spiel too many times. But Sara's team and the family from the settlement all craned their necks to take in the sight as the Bean went on, like a tour guide, "This is the center of art, education and trade for the whole Nest. We've also got the best healers in the region, all quartered at the Healer Hall over there."

He pointed at the highrise, then nodded at Stein. "Sir, that's where we'll drop you off before we go on to the main depot over by the Senate Chambers," he said, and then pointed at the building with the strange clock tower. He nodded to the rest of Sara's team. "That's where they'll be expecting the rest of you lot."

By now Burly had reached the bridge. Sara was still contemplating the giant glass pineapple and wondering what welcome they might get at the Senate Chambers when David let out an excited shriek, making her whirl, ready for a fight, until she followed his pointing finger.

A white pteranodon soared above the lake, gliding in a circle. It made a couple of rounds before plummeting down to the water, furling its wings as it went under. After a moment, it emerged, snapping its beak a couple of times before starting to flap its wings to fly once again.

"Is that… is that _Freefall_?" David asked in an awed voice.

"Only albino pteranodon in the world, lad!" the Bean confirmed with a chuckle. "And the only pteranodon in the Skybax Corps too."

Sara frowned in puzzlement. "But those others who rescued us…"

"Oh, those weren't pteranodons. They were _quetzalcoatlus skybax_. Different species altogether," Ray said authoritatively. "You can tell by the crest on the head."

Sara rolled her eyes while Mick chuckled and Amaya smiled fondly; Ray was in full dino-nerd mode and completely oblivious to their reactions. "I think he's fishing," he went on, pointing to where Freefall was diving into the water again. "Wow, he dives just like a brown pelican…"

Freefall broke the surface again, and Sara caught a quick glimpse of something silvery as the pteranodon snapped his beak again. Ray grinned. "See? Fishing! Another difference between pteranodons and skybaxes. Skybaxes aren't piscivores, but pteranodons are."

He glanced at his companions, who were looking at him with varying degrees of amusement. "Piscivores? Means they eat fish?"

"You couldn't'a just said that, Haircut?" Mick asked with a smirk.

Freefall took off from the lake's surface again, but he didn't dive for more fish. Maybe he'd eaten his fill already. Instead, he flew toward the bridge, making a half-circle over Burly before landing on a tall archway leading into the city. He turned his head so one red eye watched them as they reached the end of the bridge and passed under the arch. Then he let out a _caw_ and flew off.

"Whoa!" David's eyes were wide as saucers. "That was…"

"Awesome!" Ray and Nate finished, looking equally thunderstruck.

* * *

David giggled and nodded, "Yeah. _Awesome_."

Speaker Druce paused mid-monologue when Freefall glided through the huge arched window over the Senate Chambers and made a pass around the cavernous chamber. Leonard forgot both his discomfort on the hard wooden bench and his irritation at being raked over the coals as he watched his partner's flight, looking for any signs of distress after the day's exertions.

Out of the corner of one eye, he could see that Druce was also watching Freefall, with a sour expression. Leonard's lips twitched slightly at that. The Speaker never liked being upstaged, and he always seemed to hold Leonard personally responsible for his partner's scene-stealing.

Forgetting, of course, that Freefall had already been an adult with a fully formed, formidable personality when they'd bonded, and that Leonard had barely been in his teens.

Leonard ignored the Speaker's dark look as Freefall landed on the balcony above the main floor. He furled his wings gingerly and… there, he was favoring one leg as he settled and looked down at Leonard.

 _::I'm fine, partner. Leave it alone,::_ Freefall replied to the concern in Leonard's mind. Then, drily, _::I see the Senate left you with your hide intact.::_

 _::Most of it,::_ Leonard told him with an audible chuckle.

That got him another dark look from Druce and a warning glance from Ronnie at his desk behind the dais. The Speaker finished making his point and ceded the floor to a triceratops who began his own speech in Saurian.

As Druce returned to his seat, Leonard shrugged slightly to Ronnie before continuing, _::I managed to convince them that we weren't out looking for a fight and that we only went into the Empty City on a rescue mission.::_

 _::Well, we_ did _. So what's all the fuss about now?::_

 _::Brokehorn and his bunch think the Outsiders were looking for a fight.::_

Freefall huffed derisively, and Leonard smiled wryly. _::Yeah, I know. But when he gets an idea in his thick skull…::_ He shrugged a little. _::So where are they now?::_

 _::They should be here any moment. Burly arrived while I was fishing.::_

Leonard nodded and mouthed the word _soon_ to Ronnie, who'd been watching him with raised eyebrows.

 _::So what does Ronnie think about the Outsiders?::_

 _::He thinks I'll have plenty of time to figure out what's bothering me about them,::_ Leonard replied. Then, thinking about the last thing Ronnie had said before they entered the Chambers, he added, _::He also thinks I shouldn't say anything to anyone else about… feeling like I know them.::_

Another huff. _::He's probably right, the way Brokehorn is ranting about them right now.::_

On the dais, the triceratops was becoming agitated. " _It can only be a plot to subvert the treaty!_ " he growled. " _Why else would they come here?"_

He looked past his audience, toward the Great Door. Leonard turned and saw the small group of Outsiders entering, looking around the Chambers in wonder, but with no sign of fear…

Until Brokehorn let out an angry roar and charged off the dais, heading for the strangers at a dead run.


End file.
